PatsDraft.Com

2016
Season Blog.

Pats
Vs. Reality.

Part
I.

By
TOM

Greetings
Pats Fans,

First
off I just want to thank all the fans of this site. I have been
promoting my books for sale primarily on this site. As a result, I
have sold almost 500 books in the past year. Thank you for your
support and patronage, both are greatly appreciated. I cannot tell
you how happy it made me when I read that report. So thank you Draft
fans and Patriot fans alike, and mostly thank you to all the fans of
my books and website worldwide.

You
Did What?

By
TOM

I'm
confounded by this trade. It baffles me to the point where I don't think
there is an intelligent thing I can say about it. It literally makes no
sense on any level. Since we won the Super Bowl, we have lost the three
best defensive players on the team: Revis, Mr. Jones, and now Collins.
They just made their defense weaker, as they head into the 2nd Half of the
Season trying to hold onto hosting the AFC Champ Game in Foxboro, for a
3rd Round pick that is so very clearly not a Compensatory Pick.

First
off the reporting of this disaster has been terrible. When I first heard
about the trade I was sure it was a Halloween joke, because Schefter's
report was so clearly impossible: Blockbuster deal: Patriots traded LB
Jamie Collins to Cleveland for a compensatory third-round pick, sources
tell ESPN.Well… no.

You
cannot trade a Compensatory Pick, period. Plus, they don't
award Compensatory Picks until after the season. You also cannot
trade a pick that you don't own. The Browns don't have any Compensatory
picks, because Compensatory picks are not awarded until March.

He's
not playing well this season? "Well, I think Collins has played
poorly all season," Mike Lombardi said. "You know he’s going
to be a free agent at the end of the year, they had no interest in really
signing him for next year, and the way he’s played through the first
eight games, he was getting demoted within each game." Well… no.

He
might have been their best player on the defense in the first month, and
clearly was the best player on defense in the Houston game. Then he got
injured. But he still has been solid in coverage, and is the best off the
ball linebacker at getting into the backfield.

He
has not been playing as well since he got back. "Yesterday, the
second play of the game, he goes, he just kind of does whatever he was
gonna do," Lombardi said. "He kind of played with no enthusiasm,
and he seemed like he didn’t really want to play. It seemed like he was
playing on the 0-11 Southern Mississippi team that he played in
college." Well… no.

He
may have made a mistake and maybe he didn't, we don't know. I saw Sheard
not really set the edge, as Collins blitzed up into the hole. Gillislee
bounced it outside, and Sheard did nothing to stop it because he got
turned by the pulling guard, and lost the edge. Both OGs pulled outside.
Chung went the wrong way. Hightower got stuck in traffic. McClellin was
mirroring Sheard on opposite side, and set the edge successfully. Collins
was lined up at ILB and filled the hole.

No
one can say for certain that Collins was supposed to blitz outside
of Sheard. He lined up inside with Hightower. He got his hands on
Gillislee inside, and just fell down. It was more of a physical mistake
than mental, and there were a lot of mental mistakes on that play. Collins
lined up at inside linebacker, filled the whole, hit the RB in the
backfield, but doesn't make the tackle. So he was freelancing his way out
of Town.

That
sounds like nonsense to me. "And so I think this defense has really
been a liability, and I think what Bill’s statement today to the team is
that we’re not going to tolerate it," Lombardi said. "We’re
not going to allow this to happen. And he needs to get control of it. And
I think they lack a leadership element on their defense. McCourty on the
backend certainly can help, but their defensive leadership has been void
all season." There was a lot of blame going on, on that play.

But
he was not a complete disaster by any stretch. "Well, you know you
can rush Jamie Collins, and yet he hasn’t gotten near the
quarterback," Lombardi said. "I mean, at some point you just
have to evaluate what you see, and what I’ve seen out of the Patriots
defense is: subpar players, players playing below [their talents],
including Jabaal Sheard's not having the season he needs to have. I mean,
their best defensive player in the front seven has been Alan Branch. And
Elandon Roberts, the sixth round draft pick out of the University of
Houston, is one of their best run defenders. He has to play more."
Well… No.

The
Pats are 4th in points allowed, behind Minnesota, Seattle, and two points
behind Dallas, and no one is saying that the Dallas D sucks (they are
saying the exact opposite, everywhere). Even in the ugliest of disastrous
games against the Bills Week Four, when we had a rookie at QB with a bum
thumb at the helm, the defense looked stunningly terrible. But in the end
they only gave up 16-points. They destroyed the Cards on Week One when
Collins was completely healthy. Devastated Houston when Collins was the
best player on the field that day. And even embarrassed the Cincy offense
a little. I just don't know what people are talking about anymore…